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Thursday, 31 July 2014

Lammas, 1 August

Lughnasadh, or Lammas, is one of the eight so called Celtic festivals,
traditionally celebrated between the first and second of August. It originated
as a feast celebrating the Irish deity of light, Lugh, later encompassing all
harvest godheads, honouring the beginning of the reaping season with community
gatherings and markets.

This is the climax of warmth and luminosity, exuberance and performance.
The festival also heralds imminent changes, for it is as well the funerary
feast of the god of light, which involves acknowledging cold and darkness, the
other polarity of the cycle.

When life reaches its peak of light on one side, death and the peak of
darkness thrives on the other.

Hence at Lughnasadh, as in all truly holistic celebrations, all polarities
are encompassed, with everyone and everything, holy and profane, finding their
sacred space on the wheel of existence.

For ages conflicts between polarities have been the major cause of
affliction and humiliation. As we move into a planetary path of spiritual
reawakening it is vital to acknowledge the wounds produced by the split of
polarities, strenuously promoting ways to heal them so as to retrieve our
original unity.

Death and life, day and night, light and darkness, male and female, all
pairs of opposites engage simultaneously at all times. While the northern
hemisphere is in the midst of summer, in the southern hemisphere winter reigns
supreme, as the sun rises in one part of the world it sets in another.

With our limited perception we experience life as linear, getting used and
attached to one polarity, while neglecting the other until with time, often to
our discomfort and disbelief, what is ignored inevitably takes over.

We may even work hard to prevent the opposite side from emerging, denying
and repressing it, obdurately holding onto a separate reality. We may be dead,
and yet we believe we are living, or we may be living, though we assume we are
dead.

Just as there is a part in us thriving with life, another is dead. While a
side is joyful, another is sad, one is dark and the other luminous, poor and
rich, ill and healthy, and so on.

All opposites live within us, constantly interacting and merging. Some shine on
stage, while others lurk behind the wings, waiting for their turn to come. Yet
they keep all being here at the same time.

At the heart of ancient ceremonies and gatherings, shamanic rituals and
events, as well as their contemporary equivalents, lies the awareness of life
as a vast multidimensional theatre production.

These events were and are times of deep reunion, with all actors and
characters coming together and being acknowledged, while also providing
opportunities for swapping roles, exploring new stories, establishing novel
connections or releasing old ones. And, most importantly, these gatherings also
draw the directors and producers, those who manage the entire comedy or drama
of life.

Leo is the traditional sign of theatre, drama, actors and of all those who
shine in the limelight of life. It is associated with royal power, the
alchemical gold and the Sun. Yet, with all respect, this is not the sun that
comes and goes, drastically changing its effects according to seasonal or daily
shifts. Nor it is solely the sun of monarchs and show stars, academic awards
and political leaders. It is a deep inner Sun, capable of bestowing generous
gifts at all times.

We may find this ongoing Sun by retrieving our hidden and denied parts, by
acknowledging what was formerly eliminated from our consciousness.

Surprisingly, in order to find the veritable source of light we need to
travel into the darkness, facing all apparent areas of anguish and distress. We
need to suspend our judgements and truly getting to know the areas we find
difficult to accept, ceasing to act as if they don’t exist or only exist in
others.

What if the bits that we find harder to accept in ourselves and others end
up being the best qualities and gifts?

We may be so frightened by true light and life, so full of shame and
prejudices about our authentic treasures that we bury them away, displaying
instead our worst bits to the world, paradoxically believing that they are the
best.

Many of us strain to express what is dead in their life, while repressing
what is alive, serving a world obsessed with conventional appearances and
missing the brightness of their inner Sun.

Yet, no matter how we try to conceal it, this light regularly returns and
shines upon us. It glows upon all the crucial cross-roads on our path. It
encourages us to let go of our decayed scripts and roles, of what is dead and
long to take its course. It shines upon the blooming parts we are truly meant
to play and dance in the theatre of life.

I wish you a most fruitful ripening of all the treasures generously
available for you to enjoy and share with your beloved ones.

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